What is Deceptive Telemarketing?
Using the phone to obtain payment from you for a non-existent
or misrepresented product, service or charitable gift is deceptive
telemarketing. Using the phone to obtain your private banking
information or credit card number to steal is deceptive tele-marketing.
Offering you a prize for which you must pay is deceptive telemarketing.
Using the phone to obtain your money fraudulently in any way
is deceptive telemarketing. It is a serious crime punishable
by jail.
Telemarketing, the use of telephones to market goods and
services, has rapidly expanded in recent years. Sales in Canada
now exceed $500 billion dollars a year. Most of these telemarketing
activities are legitimate but some are not.
Deceptive telemarketing practices have been a problem in
Canada, with cross-border implications, since the early 1970s.
Telemarketing fraud has now become one of the most pervasive
forms of white-collar crime. In 1998, law enforcement and
other agencies reported over 10,000 complaints about fraudulent
telemarketing.
Since 1995 Canadians have lost approximately $40 million
as a result of this activity. Criminals are drawn to the offense
by large proceeds and relatively low risks of detection, prosecution
and punishment. Since the 1980's, low-cost telecommunications
have created economies of scale and provided offenders with
effective means of conducting potentially massive frauds.
A single telemarketer with a well-organized scheme can easily
extort several hundred thousand dollars per year from unsuspecting
victims. In some cases, the high profits have also attracted
organized crime.
Target Groups and Victims
Offenders maximize their profits by focusing on vulnerable
target groups. Victims are not chosen at random but rather
are methodically selected because they have savings or assets
and are perceived to be susceptible.
Fraudulent telemarketers often prey on seniors on the assumption
that they may be more trusting and polite toward strangers.
Offenders have told police their ideal target is an elderly
person, home alone, with little or no contact with family
members.
Another higher risk group is past victims. Once an individual
has been identified as being vulnerable, they are repeatedly
targeted. Victim information is often sold in the form of
"sucker lists" or "hot lists" to other
offenders.
The Effects of Telemarketing Fraud
The estimated $40 million lost by Canadian victims of telemarketing
fraud is only a small part of the cost of this pervasive crime.
Research conducted by North American law-enforcement and police
officials indicates that the elderly are not only more susceptible,
but they tend to be more seriously affected. Some have lost
their life savings and have been forced to sell their homes.
Seniors are often reluctant to report the crime to the authorities
or even to family fearing they will be blamed of being "careless"
or "greedy". Some fear they will be seen as incompetent
and lose control over their affairs.
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